Ross Becker

Ross Becker is a television journalist and news anchor. He is employed as an anchor/reporter at KUSI-TV in San Diego, California.^[1]

Becker began his career in broadcasting in 1975 as a reporter at WFRV-TV in Green Bay, Wisconsin, before moving in 1977 to WTHR-TV in Indianapolis as a weekend anchor and field reporter. He then moved to KCBS-TV in Los Angeles in 1980 as a reporter, eventually becoming head of the Investigative Team and weekend anchor, as well as host of a short-lived 7 p.m. newscast.^[2] He received three Emmys for coverage of the Cerritos plane crash, Southern California windstorms and coverage of the 1989 San Fernando earthquake. He also received six Golden Mike Awards and the AP Mark Twain Award for news writing. During his tenure at KCBS, he also served two years as President of the Radio/TV News Association of Southern California. In 1990, Becker moved on to KCOP-TV to anchor the station's only newscast, replacing Warren Olney.^[3] At KCOP he received an Emmy Award for coverage of the Reginald Oliver Denny beating which started the L.A area riots.

In 1995, Becker quit KCOP, complaining about "sold-out, disgusting, tabloid" journalism in Los Angeles.^[4] In January 1996 Becker was hired as a freelance journalist and conducted a 90-minute interview with O.J. Simpson. It was the first interview with Simpson following his acquittal on murder charges. The interview was controversial at the time because it was distributed as a videotape for sale instead of airing on "free" television or cable. During the interview Becker agreed not to ask about Simpson's children, finances, or the then-pending civil lawsuit, however he disclosed this at the beginning of the interview and ultimately ended up questioning him about those subjects.^[5] In the video, Simpson blamed people "in Faye Resnick's circle" for the murder and accused Mark Fuhrman of planting evidence related to Simpson's guilt. Many television stations and the National Enquirer, which printed many details about the trial, refused to carry advertising for the video. Becker himself later said that Simpson was lying during the video.^[6]

After conducting the interview, Becker decided to take a break from big city television news. Becker and his wife, Linda, purchased WIEL, WKMO-FM, and WRZI-FM in Elizabethtown, Kentucky in 1995. He sold the stations to Commonwealth Broadcasting in 2000 and jumped back into the broadcast news business when he accepted a position as an anchor for MSNBC in 2002.^[7] Later that year, he returned to local news when he joined KTNV-TV in Las Vegas as its evening anchor.^[8] Becker left KTNV in December 2004 to "pursue other opportunities". He returned to Los Angeles in 2005 as a freelance reporter for KNBC before being hired full-time. He left KNBC at the end of 2006 to join KTVX-TV in Salt Lake City, Utah, as an evening anchor.^[9] He left the station on December 31, 2009 and joined KUSI-TV in San Diego. At KUSI he is the co-anchor of the 11 p.m. newscast.^[10]

Becker also has a mentoring website, www.tvnewsmentor.com, helping them prepare and improve their skills in broadcast journalism. Becker is the immediate past president of the Board of Directors of APTRA, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association which serves 12 western states as a liaison with the Associated Press.^[11]

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